Matthijs of Hollandia
Matthijs of Hollandia (born: 8 September 1960, died: ????) was the Chairman of the Communist Party of Hollandia. He had been active in the CPH for a long time, before he became the de facto leader of his country when he established the socialist government of the Democratic People's Republic of Hollandia on 23 March 2006, which then joined the ICSN. He was a co-founder of the ICP, and was elected its first Chair on 5 May 2006, winning an election against RedHerman of Cansydia by majority vote. He held this position for one term before losing the second round of new Chair elections to Karl Marx of Marxist Paradise. He led his nation into the New Pacific Order, participating in Great War I, and was later a member of >_< and \m/. In this capacity, Hollandia fought in several wars, including Great War II and Great War II. Biography There are few reliable sources about Matthijs' early life. The general consensus is that he was born on 8 September, 1960, to uncertain parents, in New Amsterdam, the capital of Hollandia. One thing that is agreed on is that he was found by a couple of rebels, who took him in and raised him in the middle of the First Hollandian Civil War(see "History" section in Hollandia article) between the Marxist guerrillas of the May Day Movement(MDM) and the Hollandian government, which would have a profound impact on his life. As of yet, no traces to his original family have been found. In official documents, he is referred to as either Chairman Matthijs, or Matthijs of Hollandia. He attended elementary school from age 4 to 8, but due to the civil war, he, as a child from a communist family, was no longer safe there. He received his further education, along with political schooling, in a Revolutionary Schooling Collective organised by the MDM. He would later gain inspiration from this when working for the Commissariat of Youth & Education during the short-lived socialist government of the MDM, which was established when he was 20. Guerrilla Activity Two years later, conservative and nationalist elements within the Hollandian Army, led by general Kamp, and funded from abroad by several fascist states, staged a revolt against the MDM government, starting the Second Hollandian Civil War. Matthijs then led several operations against the Army, but had to go into hiding again when the MDM government was overthrown after eight years of fighting, and several of its key figures, including his adoptive parents, were tortured to death. He gathered remnants of the MDM, and started a rural guerrilla movement against the nationalist government. MDM guerrillas managed to control significant parts of the countryside, setting up their own taxation system and reviving the Revolutionary Schooling Collectives, but failed to make a decisive move, as the Hollandian Army refused to engage the MDM in open field, instead keeping the peace down in the larger cities and towns. After fifteen years of bloody fighting, while Matthijs was 45 years old, the MDM could finally make its move: its fighters had infiltrated the Army in most cities and towns, managing to take it over, and Matthijs personally led the 1st Battallion which marched on New Amsterdam. After a hasty trial, general Kamp was executed by a shot to the neck for "crimes against the people", the MDM was renamed "Communist Party of Hollandia" with Matthijs as Chairman, and the Democratic People's Republic of Hollandia was officially founded. ICSN As de facto leader of the newly-founded socialist government, Matthijs ensured the country's accession to the International Coalition of Socialist Nations. He was heavily involved in discussions regarding the ICSN and its affairs with other alliances, and founded the International Communist Party along with Harry Pollitt of Anglesey, as a political party within the ICSN. This came at a time when the alliance tried to foster internal debate by allowing its members to organise into factions. The ICP founders were not necessarily supporters of factionalism, but they seized the opportunity to factionalise against what they saw as mismanagement of the alliance. The party at first accepted Lawtonprk as a member, although they would later sever ties with him. On 17 April, 2006, the ICSN was beginning to fall apart through seemingly endless fighting among its members. Lawtonprk decreed the end of the factions and briefly installed himself as dictator before being forced to back down. After many days of in-fighting, the ICSN turned out to be unable to avert a war with the New Pacific Order and the LUEnited Nations over ICSN, and Hollandia was attacked by a member nation of LUE. Matthijs then decided to write his account of Hollandia's time in the ICSN, making a scathing criticism of this alliance, while insulting the leaders of several important ICSN nations. The venom went in multiple directions, as the article criticised both the hopeless antagonism towards stronger alliances like the NPO, as well as the naïveté of those leaders inclined more towards pacifism. Both of these, in combination with general incompetence, were held responsible for the collapse of the alliance. Hollandia then abandoned that alliance, and swore an oath to Ivan Moldavi, Emperor of the NPO to avoid further attacks on Hollandia, as was the condition for peace for former ICSN nations. He personally sacked the entire Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hollandia for its inability to keep the country out of the war. ICP He and Harry Pollitt were then responsible for the foundation of a resurrected ICP, this time in the form of an alliance. With dozens of new members being accepted, the alliance was officially founded on 1 May, the International Day of Labour, and its May Day Constitution passed. On 5 May Matthijs was elected Chair of the ICP. In this period, Hollandia took many liberties with the authority of the chairmanship of the party. Decisionmaking powers rested with the General Congress of the ICP, but the chair was responsible for writing up statements for the public about the result of votes. In one example of this tendency, Matthijs used the ICP's declaration of neutrality in the Second Polar War to dispute the popular belief amongst the left that the war was a result of NPO "imperialism" against smaller alliances. Matthijs publicly argued that all the non-communist alliances pursued their own imperialist interests, that no nation should have to suffer because of espionage conducted behind their backs, and that the NPO was not more or less imperialist than any other alliance. A highlight of this early period was the ICP receiving a sanction on the forum. As a result of the Second Polar War and the creation of several new teams, more sanctions became available. Although the ICP was not a very large alliance, procedural mistakes by larger alliances put the party in pole position. The sanction improved the ICP's visibility on the forums. The ICP theoretically supported leftist reunification, but in practice, this was difficult as there was hostility between the ICSN and ICP for a litany of reasons, while the Libertarian Socialist Federation and Socialistic Revolution Initiative preferred to maintain their independence. The ICSN regarded the ICP as traitors, while Harry Pollitt consistently referred to "the ICSN rump". Matthijs's criticism was kept as a sticky on the ICP forum in order to "inform" members about the ICP's early history and to justify the ongoing ban of those former ICSN members who were held responsible for the ICSN's failures. On the 9 June, elections to a second Chair term followed, in which Matthijs, Karl Marx and Drakomis participated. Matthijs, feeling ensured of victory, put little effort into campaigning. However, neither he nor any other candidates managed to receive a majority vote. A second round followed between him and Marx, in which Marx won a decisive electoral victory, running on a platform of reunification with all socialist alliances. Following his defeat, he continued to work within the party, devoting himself to fighting for his views of foreign policy and against the trend towards reunification with the ICSN. These foreign affairs priorities were reflected in the attitude towards the Popular Front. After all attempts at dialogue with the ICSN had ended in flame wars, and ICSN chairman Lunarsandwich was seen to be discussing war against the ICP with LSF members, Matthijs became convinced that the ICP was neglecting its internal affairs and economic build-up while being preoccupied with engaging the ICSN in pointless discussions. He therefore proposed the resolution of "socialism in one alliance", which passed in the General Congress. Its Foreign Affairs section read: - Closure of our Embassy in the ICSN forums, and cessation of all diplomatic relations with them until they show that they are prepared to engage us properly. - Maintaining diplomatic relations with the ANGIL and LSF, but only to the point of non-aggression treaties. - Maintaining diplomatic relations with the S-R-I, with proposals from them to be viewed by the General Congress on a case-by-case basis. - Member nations taking part in any sort of "Internationale" organisations will do so only on personal title, and will not represent the ICP during conferences of such organisations. - Diplomatic relations with all other alliances will be maintained, and NAPs will be sought with them. In retrospect, Matthijs and other anti-ICSN figures in the party failed to properly estimate the popularity of leftist reunification within the ICP. Within both alliances, the voices that proposed ignoring the rest of the left, or being hostile to it, became less represented as the summer went on. With the ICP stable and its neutrality in Great War I guaranteed, but being out of power himself, the former chairman decided to make a drastic change. NPO On the 17 July, the Communist Party of Hollandia officially removed itself from the ICP, and Hollandia joined the New Pacific Order. Matthijs had furiously agitated in favour of this during a long meeting of the party's congress, and the motion was eventually adopted by 66.8% of the vote. This unusual amount of support for such a controversial move was explained by the position of the Chairman, as well as the explicit support from the entire foreign ministry, which was previously instrumental in the foundation of the ICP. Then, controversially, Hollandia declared war upon the LSF collective of workers' councils known as Land&Liberty. Various explanations have been given for this. Political opponents of the CPH claim reasons such as dogmatic Stalinism, or a personal grudge of the Chairman against Land&Liberty's representative NKOS from their ICSN days. Other accounts, including the official one of the Hollandian government, claim that the only reason was one of convenience: the LSF was at war with the NPO at the time (while not officially being part of the CoaLUEtion), Land&Liberty was right next to Hollandia, and its defences were weak (although its military technology was superior). The invasion of Land&Liberty was initially successful, but failed to decisively defeat its militia. This militia soon regrouped counter-attacked, dealing a smashing defeat to the Hollandian People's Army, causing chaos in New Amsterdam that would last until the end of the war. Land&Liberty then declared war on the NPO nation Republic of Texas, thinking that Hollandia was defeated for good. Having to abandon the capital and leading guerrilla warfare yet again, Matthijs anxiously studied NPO documents on warfare. With NPO aid, he then coordinated a counter-strike together with the leadership of Texas, repelling the militia of Land&Liberty. The HPA then went on to attempt to stop the chaos in the capital, and war was declared on GATO member nation MGS:TUS in aid of an ally. However, MGS:TUS was never attacked, because the nations of USSF, G33T3ER SC00T and Trotskyism all attacked Hollandia. While the country was in ruin, daring guerrilla raids on the latter two enemies brought anarchy to both of their nations, and the entire government and military leadership of Hollandia could return to the Republican Palace safely when the war was over. After the war, Hollandia remained in the NPO. Matthijs was a candidate for the alliance's War Council in the August election, and Alliance Council in the September election, but did not gain enough votes to secure a position. >_< and \m/ The period between the first two Great Wars was one of prosperity within the NPO, but a growing sense of boredom and and stagnation within Hollandia's borders as the half-year cold war persisted. The world had changed, with the NPO now part of The Initiative and there being a wide variety of new alliances that could provide new opportunities for Hollandia on the international scene, while still being aligned with Pacifica. >_< was deemed an alliance that would better fit the country's ambitions and its leader's temperament. Being out of the loop in international affairs, Hollandia's switch from the NPO to >_< for reasons of "boredom" occurred just five days before the beginning of Great War II. Personal Life Policies and Opinions Opinions on Matthijs are extremely divided, among both the political left and right. In Hollandia itself, he has been credited for his role in the complete transformation of the educational system at his early age, and his leadership during and after the Third Hollandian Civil War which led to the Hollandian transition into a socialist economy. A minority in the Communist Party of Hollandia formed a bloc against him when he sacked the entire Foreign Affairs Department for their inability to handle the country's ICSN membership, even though he had never criticized the Department before the war began, thus also accepting ICSN membership. They accused him of hypocrisy, and became more vocal when he started personally interfering with the Economics Department. Although Hollandia's prosperity has greatly increased as a result of this, the opposition feared his "dictatorial" influence. Within the ICSN, opinions on him were greatly divided. Most leaders of important member nations had worked together with him at some point during the many power struggles within the ICSN, but he has maintained permanent good relations with only a few of them. However, he claims to have been consistent in his ideology and policies for the ICSN, and blames any animosity within that alliance on the nature of the power struggles that went on at the time, which were marked by often changing allegiances. During the NPO-ICSN War he eventually became known internationally when he denounced the ICSN and initiated the foundation of the International Communist Party. During this time, he actively made his presence known on the international scene, appeasing the NPO and LUE and giving them his point of view on the situation. The few leaders who remained in the ICSN criticised him for this, along with his publicly giving information on the inner workings of the ICSN and some of its members, which further damaged the reputation of that alliance and aided the NPO and LUE in their war and propaganda efforts. Outside of the ICSN-related conflicts, however, opinions on him are less polarised. Most find him fair to deal with, although some have criticised his failure to condemn violent revolutionary movements in other nations, some of which are affiliated to his party. He again became criticised during the Second NPO-NAAC War, when he publicly applauded the NPO's war effort, even though it was believed by some to be a war of imperialist expansion. He replied to this by saying that the NPO was justified in its war, seeing as that is the consequence of spying on the NPO, and that he is not alone in his respect for the NPO. Indeed, both GATO and The Legion joined the war against the NAAC shortly thereafter. With the advent of The Great War, the ICP was divided, causing the CPH's withdrawal from that international movement, and Hollandia's controversial entry into the war. Land&Liberty was attacked, and ICSN nations soon started giving aid to that country, supplying aid and waging war against Hollandia. Martens World In Kaiser Martens World, Hollandia, also known as Jayapura, was a city state on New Guinea, before it united with other socialist nations on that island to form the Democratic People's Republic of Hollandia. Matthijs is a revolutionary leader whose May Day Movement took over the city of Hollandia, declaring it independent of the rest of the territory. As the rest of New Guinea also experienced socialist revolutions, he was eventually instrumental in uniting these territories, forming the DPRH, which was declared on 12 October, 2006. His personality is similar to that of his CN version. Speeches and Writings Matthijs' speeches and writings no longer exist in the news archives, which are often pruned, but can be requested by contacting the Hollandian Information Office here. Category:International Communist Party Category:Individuals